Matthew Reifsnider - Cleaning Day

The construction of the new faculty room is mostly complete. Misplaced furniture books and faculty members have been strewn around the sanctuary and a layer of dust had settled on everything. There was a call to staff and students to clean, organise and discard unwanted materials gathered over the decade. Usha and Irim cleaned the seminar room. Brainerd, Damon and Paul cleaned the carrells. Ben and Brainerd hoovered. Terry and myself moved books, took furniture apart, carried it up the new spiral staircase and rebuilt it. Of course everyone else worked equally hard, but there isn't enough space to mention them all. It wasn't all hard work though. All stopped for a proper cup of coffee and jam doughnuts at 11:00. Then there were sandwiches and big happy birthday and cake for Nadine at 1:00.

Perhaps the best part of the day was realising that we were all working together, not as students or in-house tutors, but as friends. We talked, joked, shared stories and worked hard. Perhaps really getting to know each other beyond the context of the work day. When the day was over a large contingent of us met at the Gardener's Arms for a drink, a laugh and good-hearted discussion. In my opinion, it couldn't have been a better day.

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